So after a couple years of quite happily running a lumia 920 I've jumped ship this morning to Samsung.

The laugh at my ridiculous phone bit is that I've decided it's a good idea to use their new 7" tablet as a phone. It's humongous and silly and I bloody love it. Plus I get access to all of the apparently awesome apps right?

I was quite surprised at the OS and vendor bloat; I have less than half of the shipped 8Gb memory. I had been led to believe that this was a lean ecosystem but I'm cool with buying a memory card, and at least I CAN. Integration with MS Exchange was pleasantly painless.

I'm not interested in rooting the unit so only s*** that works off the Play Store or a manual install from a trustworthy source will work, but I'd love to hear from you guys about awesome apps and s*** :)

Get a good note taking app, Natural Notes+ was cheap and loads fast and has txt exports for the whole thing, which seems to be rare (there's a nearly fully featured free version which I used first after getting sick of everything else).

Put calculator and clock (for alarms) on your home screen, along with camera/task manager/play store etc.

Dunno about newer Android OS versions and Chrome, but with the old default browser at least, you could pin browser bookmarks to the home screen as icons.

Smart Tools is okay when you want a bright light and a few other things, I got it for like 10c during a sale.

you left the 920?! mine is kicking ass, did you have the 8.1 developer preview running?

I wanted a bigger phone and mucked about with a 7 inch phone tablet thing for a client recently and decided to give it a go. No hate on my 920 I just wanted a new (absurd) form factor and believe it or not the Lumias just weren't big enough.

Not a flagship phone/device ($330 from mobicity) but I'm not convinced about the long term appeal of this crazy tablet phone idea so I went conservative. Liking it so far though I notice that scrolling and screen transitions stutter very occassionally if the system is a little busy, not enough to fret about.

I have a set or earphones with mic that work with it so if I need to take a call in public I can use them. I reckon its a 50:50 as to whether an earpiece is a wankier option than just sticking the thing up to my ear ahahaha. The phone actually has a speaker at the top and a mic at the bottom, its literally designed to make calls with it against your head o.O

Is 3G max. I ummed and ahhed about that a bit, I think you can get more expensive 4G versions?

Where I live LTE coverage isn't especially reliable anyway so I'm OK with 3G speeds. 3G is still faster than my home internet @!*&$

I still forget that not all phones come with Swype installed like mine. It may not be as great on a tablet, but imo Swype is the only decent keyboard I've used.

Yeh no Swype, the larger screen makes the default keyboard OK to work with, esp with the Samsung predictive text s***.

Does the 30 minute trial refund thing I heard about on Google Play actually work?

I won a Galaxy Note 10.1 in a comp last week and I loathe it. I want to sell it and replace it with the Nexus 10. I wish I'd kept the thing in its box so I could sell it for nearer retail basically just straight replace the thing. I have a Nexus 5 on my phone after being a galaxy s series person for ages, and I just can't handle the samsung bloat bulls*** any more.

Personally I use my "phone" more for media and net than calls (I rarely have to talk to people, it's pretty great), and the Note 3 isn't big enough for me to type perfectly on it. 7" phone would be ideal.

I support this choice. Pity the specs aren't higher though... I'll deal with the smaller screen for the epic specs of the Note 3.

^ Yeah, my thoughts too, the only reason that I'd want a phone-sized handheld computer is so it fits in my pocket, I don't actually use it for calls. Mostly reading and mobile net browsing. That being said, the galaxy s1 is a pretty handy size for reading.

Personally I use my "phone" more for media and net than calls (I rarely have to talk to people, it's pretty great), and the Note 3 isn't big enough for me to type perfectly on it. 7" phone would be ideal.

I support this choice. Pity the specs aren't higher though... I'll deal with the smaller screen for the epic specs of the Note 3.

Yep that was my thinking basically. I spent more time on my 'phone' reading emails or on reddit or QGL or whatever so a 7" device seemed like a logical plan.

I wasn't sure about it (and with our OS trip later this year things are a bit tight) so I went with a midrange spec version. Samsung and a few other vendors seem to think that this is a thing so there's a bunch of devices in the form factor with various specs and prices, there are versions like the PRO etc with moar grunt.

^ Yeah, my thoughts too, the only reason that I'd want a phone-sized handheld computer is so it fits in my pocket, I don't actually use it for calls. Mostly reading and mobile net browsing. That being said, the galaxy s1 is a pretty handy size for reading.

This one BARELY fits in my pocket without sticking out, I can still sit down etc but its a near thing. Driving with it in pants pocket is not a thing.

1: Checks out all your filez and messages, and giving you no positives in return.2: Fills your memory and hogs small amounts of process time.3: Uses more battery over a period of days (if you're lucky enough to have it last that long)

Clear recommendation for anyone with bloaty software is to root it (sometimes rooting isn't needed) and installing CM11 (CyanogenMod) using a bootloader such as CWM (Clockwork Mod). My Note 2 went from a typical 1.5-2 days to upwards of 4-5ish days if I don't use it much.

Aside from the fact that it eats some memory, what does the bloatiness do to the phone?

Slows the phone down, replaces good apps with samsung alternatives, general bulls***. I never noticed it until I switched to the bloatless alternative, but now I can't bear it. F*****g flipboard and samsung voice search where the hell is my app switcher dammit!

This one BARELY fits in my pocket without sticking out, I can still sit down etc but its a near thing. Driving with it in pants pocket is not a thing.

If you're a skinny jeans hipster this won't work at all.

Actually now that I think about it, I think my sister had a galaxy note 3 or something, which I tried to fit in my pocket, and it was fine. Maybe I should just get one of those to replace my constantly freezing and turning off galaxy s1.

I had the Galaxy S1 and S2 before this. I was really hesitant about the size, but now that I've used it, I'm never going back to small screens. And the Note 3 is just awesome, runs everything brilliantly.

My only complaint is how the camera focuses ... because it auto focuses every time you take a picture.Why not let me focus it and take the picture of whatever I had in focus!? Jerks.

I'm never so much as price checking inside a Harvey Norman store again, motherf***** constantly would not stop trying to sell me a Norton suite for the tablet?! wtf, I just wanted to know how much their sd cards were!

OK so rooting. I hadn't planned to do it, but if I can squeeze a little more performance / memory out of the device I'm interested (just found out that you can't install lots of apps to the sdcard, a bit wtf).

If you've never done this s*** before - Imagine it like changing Windows to Linux. It pretty much can't toast your hardware. It mightn't work (well, or at all) but it won't toast anything.

Your phone has a bootloader, which is like a computers BIOS. So no matter how bad you f*** your CM/Android/Whatever install, you can always get back to the recovery console/loader and install something else off the SD Card from within the console. (Having another device that works and will get your SD Card to show up on the computer is really helpful in these events, like an old phone, card reader w/e) - I've twice 'bricked' phones installing the wrong s*** and both times I was able to recover easily. That was also back in the days where this stuff wasn't as easy as now. (Getting S-OFF in a 1.5+hboot HTC phone before HTC released their dev tools)

I just did a super fast Google and I couldn't see anything about CM running on a Note 4 Tab. As you'd already know, the best method you'll find is one that you can read and understand the whole thing 'before' beginning the process. If you think you're on a winner, PM it to me and I can double check if you like. Done tons of Sammy phone roots for others.

Typically, most devs post their firmware on http://www.xda-developers.com/ - Your device will have a section of its own in the forums. Cyanogen has its own site now, but they typically post on xda as well, per device.

Abort plan is to have the stock rom handy. It's fully compatible with the 'radio' (that's that they refer to it as, for us it's the 3g/4g transceiver) and supports any extra buttons (android typically supports 3) and other handy UI functions. If you can't find a stock ROM, you shouldn't proceed. Some devices won't allow you to install a stock ROM after changing the bootloader, in those cases people have 'stock' remakes of their own which often don't contain any bloat on purpose, but retain all functionality and stability.

new blackberry yo, passport, it has my interest (so much so that I was looking at going back to blackberry anyway, but this is shaping up to be a great phone, I'm just over the whole touch screen s***, and autocorrect and/or swype are NOT a fast effective way to type)

If you hate any and all forms of bloat try the slimROM. I had it working on my nexus 1 and it was really amazing. Absolutely nothing installed, you have to flash the google app pack yourself.

I have a nexus 4 and even that comes with bloat from google. There are certain apps that I will never use and I think I should be given the choice of installing them. Also f*** the google toolbar up top, peace of s***. F*** g+ even though photos is connected to it (automatic backup).

The only reason you are even thinking about flashing ROMs is because your device is broken. You think you can fix it by flashing, but in reality you are just trading Samsung's s***** software for a variety of different problems instead. You will embark on a pointless journey that will waste hours of your time, constantly reflashing your phone with firmware that never quite works right, always hunting for that perfect ROM that supports all your hardware and doesn't have some weird problem.

Its not broken, it works fine. I said in the OP that I wasn't interested in rooting the device.

The only actual reason I'm considering rooting it is that I'd like to snatch back a couple gig system memory ... because. I don't need it atm but I would like to have it. I don't know anything about rooting the device and it looks like its a pain in the arse (especially for this particular phone) so I'm out. Believe it or not, I still like the phone. Its not broken.

At $330 delivered to my door it is excellent value while I trial the form factor for a while. Can you link me to an AU supplier of a Nexus 7 with SIM for anything near that price? Because its looks like they are about $480 at mobicity, AKA a f*****g lot of extra money. If I wanted to spend ~$500 on a handset why would I have bought this one? There's lots of options out there for 5 hunge, comparing apples to oranges much? Yeh its a better phone ... and it costs nearly 50% more!

Thanks for s***ting on my 'recommend me some apps' thread with your 'you bought the wrong phone lol just send it back' crap. Please just hush Nathan, other people are being actually helpful while you're just adding noise.

I have used this little ap called "quick PDF scanner" for a quick way to email some doc's a little while ago, and I've since found it useful for other things, the image it captures is great (about 90% of the time, but it doesn't take much to re-image) and was suitable for legal doc's if it helps

the only other non social media ap I use would be SMS scheduler, and that was dude to working really early mornings' (and now late afternoons etc) and it is great for sending SMS's at a more suitable time, it is also good for sending yourself a reminder

If your not rooting then mybackup pro, ES File Explorer cloud browser if u use ftp's a lot like I do, Pocketweather, MX player for divx movies, ring droid for ringtones. Open TTD because transport tycoon was the best game ever created.
Noom if u want to lose some kg's

Thanks dude! Tried reddit is fun whic was rated highly, but it seemed to suck compared with BaconReader.

If your not rooting then mybackup pro, ES File Explorer cloud browser if u use ftp's a lot like I do, Pocketweather, MX player for divx movies, ring droid for ringtones. Open TTD because transport tycoon was the best game ever created.Noom if u want to lose some kg's

What does mybackup pro do? I have photos going somewhere off to the cloud in google land, exchange has my mail and contacts, do I need a dedicated backup really? Haven't bothered to with other phones, just treat them as disposable data.

What does mybackup pro do? I have photos going somewhere off to the cloud in google land, exchange has my mail and contacts, do I need a dedicated backup really? Haven't bothered to with other phones, just treat them as disposable data.

That's how I roll as well. Everything on the phone that's important is drag dropped to my computer. Otherwise it's contacts, which are all stored at Google.

+1 ES File Explorer, get your filez off a LAN, samba etc.+1 MX Player, works with almost everything.

mybackup pro is as close to a full backup as u can get without rooting (titanium backup if you root). It's free and u can just do a full backup to your pc or cloud. I really only use this app when I am going from 1 phone to another and I don't want to have to reinstall all the apps, contacts, music, photos and app data.

If you are cool to do that yourself via other means then maybe skip it but after a few months once you get the phone to where you want it, it wouldn't hurt to do a backup.

s*** i don't even have sound notifications turned on for email. I just check it every hour or so. if you want me quicker than that, use the least utilised function of a smart phone. the actual f*****g phone bit and call me.

Having only used a nexus 4 and 7 I was surprised when my wife's LG G3 arrived this morning and didn't have vanilla android on it. I mean i knew it didnt but was suprised by the differences. Its just f*****g stupid things. Wtf would you change the android settings app/process? It makes no sense

Its not broken, it works fine. I said in the OP that I wasn't interested in rooting the device.

Wait until the next decently sized Android release

edit: apps I use:

- FBReader for ebooks (probably 80% of my phone use is in this)- Feedly for RSS (most of the rest of it is in this)- TextSecure for encrypted messaging & SMS- Google Authenticator for 2 factor auth on Google services- Skype for Skyping- SwiftKey for keyboard- Dropbox for photo syncing

Hey, actually curious here, what's Samsung's track record on deploying Android updates like? Is this my phone for life or will a few get through (if delayed)?

Seems like every ecosystem has a different experience with that. iOS will have a couple generations of updates, but they will make your older phone run s***. Windows have a good run since 8 with vendors (ok, Telstra, I have nfi otherwise) deploying updates in a reasonably timely fashion, and the developer roms 'just work' basically anyway on pretty much any device. People with WP7 devices are seemingly f***ed though.

What happens in Samsung droid land? I don't REALLY care if I don't get access to new releases at this price point, I'm not the sort of user who needs to be able to use the latest version of Sexy App 6.0. If my mail and websites keep loading then yay I assume KitKat 4.4 or whatever it is will be good for at least a year+ anyway.

Samsung don't update as commonly. Eg: You can't get Kitkat on an older S model. But again, with custom ROMs you can get 4.3/4.4 on many devices right now.

Clearly Google phones get updates first and fastest. THEN Samsung will have an update, maybe, THEN the firmware goes to Telstra/Optus/Vodafone commonly, where they add their own bloat and splash screens etc. There is 3 points of failure to whether you get an update on your phone, give or take.

Eg: On an old HTC Incredible I can't go higher than 2.x.x legit, but I can install CM11 and run the latest KitKat right now on it, no bloat, no bulls***, etc.

For me, rooting/ROMs aren't about what free apps you get, or what awesome pretty colours it comes with. For me it's about performance vs battery life, smooth transitions, smooth scrolling, fast response, low RAM usage etc. You can get minimalist ROMs that use f*** all resources, you can get bloated ROMs that are all about prettyness. Some are about total conversions, some are about adding features but making them seamless to the rest of the OS.

CyanogenMod is a good balanced ROM, it's turned into the 'go to' ROM for a ton of devices now. They've slowly gone from an enthusiast developer to a full blown company that would like to see their OS used everywhere.

I think I tried this years ago, and highly recommend trying out aldiko if you haven't, though use FBReader on my pc still I think.

Hey, actually curious here, what's Samsung's track record on deploying Android updates like? Is this my phone for life or will a few get through (if delayed)?

In my experience, not fantastic, as my galaxy s1, when only about 2 years old, was considered obsoleted for some reason (despite still being very capable compared to modern cheap devices), and hasn't received updates since the 2.x version of the OS.

In my experience, not fantastic, as my galaxy s1, when only about 2 years old, was considered obsoleted for some reason

+1Checking in here with a galaxy s3 that was released around 2 years ago - android 4.3 is considered 'up to date'.Apparently 4.4 is available for the device in the USA so I'm guessing it's Optus dragging the chain but I'm not holding my breath for kit kat.

Compare that with the iphone 3GS that I previously had - it was a trooper and received updates directly via Apple from iOS 3 (2009-ish) to iOS 6 (last updated Feb 2014).

So yeah, not that impressed with Samsung here. What Nats said was good, grab a Nexus device. :DWith the Nexus 7 at least you can download the roms from google directly.

Checking in here with a galaxy s3 that was released around 2 years ago - android 4.3 is considered 'up to date'.Apparently 4.4 is available for the device in the USA so I'm guessing it's Optus dragging the chain but I'm not holding my breath for kit kat.

Compare that with the iphone 3GS that I previously had - it was a trooper and received updates directly via Apple from iOS 3 (2009-ish) to iOS 6 (last updated Feb 2014).

What happens if you had a retail S3 instead of Optus? Could you kit kat now?

For those who have the Samsung Galaxy S4[I think they mean 3 lel], the bad news is that you can no longer officially upgrade to the Android Kitkat, the latest in the Android OS updates leading to the Android L.

But that does not mean that it's impossible to do so with other means, and that includes customised ROM hacks thanks to the likes of Paranoid Android.

Etc. The best way to get acquainted with rooting a phone would be to do it to your old one first. If it's a smart phone it's bound to have some hax out there. Try some roms, f*** around with the bootloader etc. The second time onwards was a much easier task and no sweats.

Edit: Even if they 'do' mean the S4, that still isn't good news for an S3 tbh.

Etc. The best way to get acquainted with rooting a phone would be to do it to your old one first. If it's a smart phone it's bound to have some hax out there. Try some roms, f*** around with the bootloader etc. The second time onwards was a much easier task and no sweats.

I rooted my tablet, then have spent every second since wondering who else in addition to Google and the NSA now has access to my data

Etc. The best way to get acquainted with rooting a phone would be to do it to your old one first. If it's a smart phone it's bound to have some hax out there. Try some roms, f*** around with the bootloader etc. The second time onwards was a much easier task and no sweats.

What instructions did you follow? Did you find everything they mentioned? Did all download links work? Did you read it through before trying? Did you check the last page or two to see if people (who are most likely more duncey than you) are thanking the guy for a working mod that they found worked without any issues?

Further information pertinent to this issue would be highly appreciated. Roger comms?

What happens if you had a retail S3 instead of Optus? Could you kit kat now?

Ahh, that link from pheex is interesting.I've got no problems with 4.3 Jelly Bean, but obviously over time applications will stop supporting it. Hopefully we're talking a time frame of 2-3 years by which time I'll have dumped the device anyway. At least you get a feel for where Samsung and is with their policy.

I found it no different than Gmail app? I think it was even slower. This was on a Nexus 4 maybe it's different on a tablet.

it's staggeringly different to gmail - the Gmail app is mostly online-only, with poor/no configurability for offline mail. K9 lets you set how much offline mail you want in precise detail so you can always be confident that the mail you want is on your phone. So much better for travelling etc.